Wow! A totally original concept where lives are measured in set years and can be lost in brutal unreal game parks. Drastic measures have had to be taken to control Earth’s overpopulation, and the five minds exist in turn in one body until one of them is killed in a game for real and suspicions emerge. Inventive and exciting, the narrative switches between the characters, each striving to survive and outwit the killer who must surely be amongst them. A must read for 2021. Sarah Torquay

In a future where resources are limited, 5 people’s consciousness’ can be put into the body of just one. Each person shares the day equally and lives for over 100 years. Naturally, there are disagreements between the ‘commune’ of people who share a body. After 25 years, the members of one commune enter a ‘death park’ in order to earn time, which they will trade for upgrades on their next host body. Soon it becomes obvious that they are being picked off one by one, but is it by outside sources, or more worryingly, someone within the commune? The concept of this book is so interesting! You can’t help but wonder what option you would choose for your own life in such a future. The twists and turns kept me interested, and it is cleverly written. I will look for more by this author and highly recommend this book. Thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher for my free advance copy in return for an unbiased review.

A possible future response to chronic overpopulation could have one body hosting five very different, individual minds, each taking their turn to control the host body for four hours at a time. This is one of the five different choices available to every 17 year old, a communal host body gives the longest lifespan of 142 years per mind, as long as they change to a new host body when they have accumulated 25 years each. I’m not sure I would like to live in that particular world, gambling for additional lifespan. The idea reminded me of the 2011 film In Time, starring Justin Timberlake and Cillian Murphy, where time had become currency. An equally fascinating yet terrifying prospect. I liked each of the five minds with their distinct personalities which were completely different from one another. I think they complimented each other. It takes a clever book to leave you imagining what you would do in similar circumstances, and Guy manages it easily. The story in itself was fast-paced and held my interest from page one. Everyone knows that good mystery book has twists and turns, and each time there was one, it caught me completely by surprise, as did the big reveal at the climax of the story. Well played Guy Morpuss. Well played. Overall, I found this to be one of my favorite reads of 2021 and can’t see it not being in my Top 10 at the end of the year. I recommend Five Minds to anyone who likes a good mystery thriller, and gave it five stars.

Wow! I wanted to read this book as it had been compared to The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, which I loved. And I think the comparison is fair in terms of when you pick this up you know you are in a different World and something is happening but you’re not sure what. I also got the very same thrill in the opening pages from this book that I knew I was reading something special and unique and Five Minds is definitely unique, like nothing I’ve read before. It is brilliant from the opening pages right to the very end. It such a clever, well plotted story, that although yes it is set in a dystopian future you almost forget that as it feels so real, and normal, and the mystery story takes over. Every so often a book comes along that blows your mind, and you just want to tell anyone and everyone about it, and this book is it! This book is definitely a recommended read for 2021.

I love this feeling when I'm reading a debut which is so perfect that I'm blown away! And that was definitely the case with Five Minds. This book has everything: - sci-fi & dystopia + murders! - a set of characters which are so different and yet they're forced to work together - GAMES! And if you go on Guy's website you'll find several games that you can actually play - perfectly built world and the storylines - betrayal and revenge I truly cared about the characters, I wished them all the best and hoped they're going to survive whatever was coming for them. I felt engaged in their stories and I couldn't believe how some of them could behave knowing they're stuck together for over a hundred years! The story is fascinating, there's not a single moment when you want to put down the book. You just need to continue, even though it's a middle of the night and you should wake up at 6:30 in the morning! The idea to build such an interesting world, the choices that people need to make at 17, the reasons why they need to make them - unique. It's terrifying because who knows what will happen in a few hundred years if we won't stop killing the planet and the science will keep developing and improving. It was so entertaining, perfectly plotted, super enjoyable. I've read over 150 books so far, and this one is definitely in my top of 2021. I hope to see many more stories coming from Guy Morpuss!